Romney focused on family
Posted: Tuesday, November 06, 2007 3:15 PM by Domenico Montanaro
From NBC/NJ’s Erin McPike
GREENVILLE, S.C. --
Romney has focused on his opposition to same-sex marriage as the wedge issue to catapult him ahead of his top rivals in the eyes of social conservatives recently, but he discreetly shifted his focus to abortion via the adoption alternative at an adoption agency here this morning.
After touring the Carolina Hope Christian Adoption Agency -- because November is National Adoption Awareness Month in the United States -- Romney outlined for reporters three things he’d like to do to promote adoption, the second of which is to “require all of these family planning clinics [that receive Title X funds from the federal government] to provide to respective mothers information about adoption in the normal course of their responsibilities.”
His other two points included making permanent the adoption tax credit that “
President Bush doubled… a few years ago” and encouraging states to be more involved in the follow-through of funding on foster care. He also said it was suggested to him that there should be a greater focus on statistics concerning adoption -- including both foreign and domestic -- and he vowed to look into making that a part of his agenda.
Romney’s comments fold neatly into his call to strengthen the American family, which he detailed in a 12-point plan first shown at the Values Voters conference in Washington, DC, last month. But Romney’s insistence on promoting marriage so that all children have both a mother and father raises some questions given recent comments he has made on divorce.
“Even when there’s a divorce, you still have a mom and a dad,” he told an audience at Luther College in northeastern Iowa last Friday.
Asked to expound on his second point in that 12-point plan, which is to realign government incentives to encourage marriage, given the high divorce rate in the country and the Iowa comment, Romney explained: “I’m not suggesting we make it easier to get married; it’s already pretty easy in most states -- it’s a state-by-state provision -- but I am encouraging of the viewpoint that kids should understand that before they have babies they’re wise to finish high school and get married.”
And pressed further on the effect of divorce on the American family, Romney said that he will probably address that at some point but had nothing to offer today. “There’s been divorce in my own family, that’s part of America’s experience,” he said, adding, “Obviously it’s everyone’s hope that marriages survive, but divorce is part of the experience as well, and it sometimes occurs for some of our citizens.”
Romney’s last point in his 12-point family strengthening plan is to lead by example. Although he has never been divorced and top GOP rivals Giuliani, McCain and Thompson all have, Romney said today, “I’m not going to be pointing any fingers about the personal lives of my rivals.”
Instead, he said intends to discuss family values and will maintain “a pro-life mentality.” “There are a number of principles that can be pro-life and be promoted without in any way casting dispersions at people who’d take a different course,” he said.
